The World of Courtesans c8.181

c8.181

These love intrigues in the palace took different forms in different regions of India. The women of Aparānta took advantage of the slackness of the palace guards and managed to get their lovers inside the palace by helping them to disguise themselves as women. The Ābhīra women took the help of the Kshatriya palace guards to get their lovers admitted inside. The women of Vatsagulma made their lovers dress exactly like their maids. That made it easy for them to slip inside undetected. In Vidarbha the male children born and brought up in the palace often made love to the women there. The morals of Gauḍa women were lower still and they had love affairs with Brahmans, friends, servants and slaves. In Sindhu the inmates of the harem had clandestine affairs with the chamberlain and other officers who had free access to the harem. In the Haimavata country, adventurers, after bribing the palace guards, entered the harem. In Aṅga, Vaṅga and Kaliṅga, the Brahmans of the city were allowed to enter the palace with the permission of the king in order to offer flowers to the inmates. There they got an opportunity to talk to the women behind the screen. This often resulted in intimacy.